An
investigation by
the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram has found that a
disturbingly high percentage of individuals shot by police suffer from
mental health problems. There are no federal statistics on police
shootings of mentally ill people, but according to the investigation
published this week ,
“a review of available reports indicates that at least half of the
estimated 375 to 500 people shot and killed by police each year in this
country have mental health problems.”
The newspapers analyzed in detail the incidents of police deploying
deadly force in Maine — a state with a comparatively low crime rate —
since 2000. The report noted:
42 percent of people shot by police since 2000 — and 58
percent of those who died from their injuries — had mental health
problems, according to reports from the Maine Attorney General’s Office.
In many cases, the officers knew that the subjects were disturbed, and
they were dead in a matter of moments
Read on...
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